Thoughts on a 25 hour bus journey

Finals are over, goodbyes have been said and now I’m headed half way across the country on a sketchy bus to spend Christmas in New York. Writing this, I can’t quite believe I’m already half way through my time here- it honestly feels like it was only last month that I touched down in the tiny airport of Evansville.

So far most of my blogs have been about my travel experiences and the likes, so I thought that, now I’ve spent a full semester here, I would instead write a sort of ‘reflection’ of my time so far and talk more about what I get up to day to day.

Classes

The beauty of my scholarship is that I am able to pick absolutely ANY classes I want- they don’t have to be related to my degree in England (which is a dual degree in Music and Theatre for any of y’all wondering) , and they don’t even have to be related to each other. Understandably, I took full advantage of this opportunity taking classes in French, Geography, Film Music, Psychology and Acting, and I have a bunch more interesting subjects lined up for next semester too. I talked about the differences with classes in England vs America in a previous blog- Tests, textbooks and Tennis-which you can read if you’re interested. I’m really enjoying classes- especially acting, and it’s been particularly interesting to see the differences between British and American drama classes, and theatre in general.

Oh, also, 8am classes suck.

Outside the classroom

Most days I end up having only around 3h actually in the classroom, giving me lotsa free time to get involved with other aspects of uni life. I’ve had a couple of concerts with the symphony orchestra including the ‘Christmas Pops’ concert a few days ago. It’s been a lot of fun- despite an awful Americanised rendition of ‘Joy to the World’ we had to play, but I think that’s about as bad as it got. I’ve also spent some of my free afternoons/weekends over in the theatre shop doing various bits and bobs. It’s been a good way to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes of the shows and also gives me a chance to meet more people- something I always love.

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE sports, so I’ve really tried to get involved while I’m here. Unfortunately though, most of the sports I know and love aren’t really played here, so it’s been a bit of a challenge, but Intermural sports have been the perfect solution for that. You basically get to make a team of you and all your friends and play against other teams who’ve done the same. It’s a lot of fun as it’s not really serious, and you don’t really have to be any good at all. I played volley ball properly for the first time and it was a LOT harder than I thought it would be. I kinda figured I really was no good when the opposite team also started cheering for me when I got the serve over. But hey, it was fun!

'Kiss my Ace' Volleyball team

Thanksgiving

This doesn’t really fit with the theme of this blog post, but I felt I couldn’t write this blog without talking about my first thanksgiving experience. I went back up to Chicago with a friend from school (Hey Mardi) for the 5 day break and stayed there with her wonderful family who made me feel right at home, and I definitely got the full American thanksgiving experience! I had asked around a lot of Americans what the actual meaning behind the holiday was, and I got a load of mixed answers all loosely based around a story of a ‘meal/celebration between the native Americans and the first settlers where they shared a load of food’…or something along those lines. Pretty much it’s just a holiday spent with family being thankful for everything you have-by eating as much as sanely possible in the way of turkey and mashed potatoes…But on a serious note it really was a great day with great food and great people.

At the chicago bean

I’m now about 20 hours into the bus ride, slowly getting closer and closer to New York but still with a good 6 hours to go. I imagine this will be the last blog of 2015 so, in case it is, I hope you all enjoyed this blog and have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!